At 52,000, Kerala has highest number of pending divorce cases in the family courts, as per the data compiled by Department of Justice of the Kerala government till November 2016. In 2015, the courts have settled about 50,000 such cases. The Indian Express reports that the number of cases on the wait-list in Kerala alone is more than the aggregate pending cases in 19 other states.
The report says Kerala, which has less than 3% of country’s population, has more pending divorce cases than highly-populated states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha.
According to the data, 28 family courts in Kerala disposed of 43,914 cases in 2013, 53,564 in 2014 and 51,288 in 2015. Bihar, which has three times population that Kerala stands in second position of pending cases, 50,847.
Family courts, which deal with divorce cases while also issuing orders on alimony, ordering custody of children and restitution of conjugal rights, are meant to offer an efficient and expeditious mechanism to deal with discords. In 2014 – 2013 Tamil Nadu was highest in number of pending cases, but in 2016 the state has reached in to 5th position.
In another report released this year, it had been stated that family courts in Kerala ruled on just over five divorces every hour in 2014–130 every day–more than any of the 12 Indian states that compile such data. Kerala still tops in the number of divorce cases in the country.